


Opia

by Niimarie



Series: Science and Magic [1]
Category: Captain America - All Media Types, Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies), The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types
Genre: Avengers: Age of Ultron (Movie), F/M, Family, Mind Gem (Marvel), Sibling Love, Telepathy
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-05-11
Updated: 2016-05-11
Packaged: 2018-06-07 17:04:14
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 940
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6814540
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Niimarie/pseuds/Niimarie
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>n. the ambiguous intensity of looking someone in the eye, which can feel simultaneously invasive and vulnerable.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Opia

One.

Two.

Three.

Wanda counted each rotation. The stone set in the thin, silver ring scraped against the soft skin between her fingers.

Five.

The lights were off, allowing her a clear view over the buzzing beast that was New York City. And the two figures standing before it.

Nine.

‘You always do that, you know.’ The soft words spoken in their mother tongue shook her from her reverie.

‘Do what?’

The couch gave under his weight. Wanda watched Pietro interlace his fingers with hers and let herself relax. ‘Play with your rings when you’re thinking. One will fall off sooner or later and then I’ll have to go looking for it.’

She grinned up at him. ‘That’s your job. You’re the big brother.’

She kept her eyes on him as he skimmed the room. The couch alone probably cost more than their old home.

Her gaze fell on his new outfit. Running clothes. Good. They wouldn’t slow him down. Part of her wondered how Stark had managed to find something for the two of them in such short time. Then again, money could buy you everything. Almost everything.

‘Looks good, no?’ Pietro was eyeing her coat, a cheeky grin playing on his lips. ‘Not really useful in a fight though.’

‘I’ll be fine.’ _It’s not me I’m worried about._ ‘And besides, we know the city better than any of them.’

Wanda let her head rest against his shoulder just as his arm wound around hers.  They were part of a larger team now, but it still felt like it was just the two of them. It always did.

She looked back to the two figures standing outside. Like before her attention drifted to the younger one, only a few minutes old.

It wouldn’t take much effort to listen to their conversation, but something in her felt it wouldn’t be right. Not for ethical reasons. Even now she was slipping from one mind to the next, trying to assess these strangers who somehow accepted them for the time being.

Surprisingly, Stark was the hardest to read, followed by Banner. Rogers was the easiest. Inside each one of them she stumbled upon walls – secrets they unconsciously protected. None could feel her probing so what were they afraid of? That did each one of them hide from the world?

Pietro shifted, nerves beginning to show. ‘Can we trust it?’

No need to ask him what he was talking about.

‘Him.’ Wanda laid emphasis on the word without thinking what it truly meant. She wasn’t sure _what_ he was, but referring to the figure with the honest eyes as ‘it’ felt almost bizzare.

The Vision’s cape fluttered around his legs in the breeze. She couldn’t tell for how long she’d been watching him and Thor, trying to analyze each movement from afar.

She’d read him earlier, when he’d told her to. It had almost been too easy, slipping into his mind, letting herself be enveloped by the warmth. So pure. For a handful of seconds she experienced their surroundings through him - the chill from the air-conditioning against his still hyper-sensitive skin, the clash of colours and smells. Leather, overheated cables, human sweat – each tickled his nose, and thus hers too. It was like watching a child take its first steps and she began to feel dirty, a blemish against all that purity.

She hadn’t gone back since.

Her twin followed her gaze, dark brows scrunched as he evidently tried to understand what she was seeing in the stranger.

‘He was telling the truth?’

Instead of answering him Wanda rose, coming to a stop mere inches before the window. There was no adequate way of explaining what she’d glimpsed inside the android’s mind, even to him.

‘He’s...good. He wants to help as best he can. He...’ Her own brain failed her, loosing grasp over the words she thought might fit him.

Just then the Vision’s head turned and his eyes linked with hers.

Was it curiosity she caught in the tilt of his head, in the flash of his blue irises even from such an impossible distance?

She should have lowered her gaze under its intensity, like guilty culprits ought to, but none of her muscles seemed to follow her command anymore. Instead she met his challenge, his analysis of her. What was it _he_ saw?

The Mind Gem had given her powers she had yet to fully comprehend or get used to. Now it was nestled on his forehead.  Part of her felt a strange relief at the possibilities - to have someone who _knew_ what it felt like beyond vague empathy. Someone who felt the same kind of rush through their veins, the same pull.

But there was something else too. What if he could travel her mind like she travelled others’? Would the things he’d see disturb him? Or would his innocent perception of the world filter out her flaws and mistakes?

Then again, what did she care what someone else thought of her? Only one opinion mattered.

Looking back she wasn’t surprised to find Pietro studying her, mischief on the tip of his tongue.

‘You know, I can almost imagine you-‘

A call from the main lounge interrupted his comment. Wanda let out a sigh. This was it. No more waiting.

‘We need to go. Save your smugness for some other time.’

‘You mean _smartness_?’

Laughter came so easily to her when he was around. Wanda managed to smack his head before he could duck. ‘Whatever makes you feel better.’

Before they reached the door she hesitated, allowing her gaze to go over her shoulder to a now abandoned skyline.


End file.
